Gregory Postel (Meteorologist)

Maybe the first coherent sentence I muttered as a toddler, “It’s cold outside”, was a sign that the weather was on my mind from day one. After all, installing meteorological equipment in my backyard and keeping daily climate records were my favorite childhood hobbies.

After majoring in mathematics in college, I formerly began my meteorological training at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where I spent most of the 1990s in graduate school (M.S. 1994 and Ph.D. 1999 in Atmospheric Sciences). After graduation, I spent a couple of years as a research scientist at UW (studying hurricane formation) before I moved to the Kansas City area in 2001 to enter the private sector of meteorology.

Until November 2009, I worked for a weather-risk management company in Overland Park, where I focused my efforts on weather predictability and forecast uncertainty. I currently serve as the "Tropical Weather Expert" for the Washington Post's weather desk, routinely contributing to their group, "Capital Weather Gang", as a freelance writer.

From a meteorologist’s perspective, living in Kansas has been a great fit. My tornado-chasing commute is relatively short, and my trips to intercept landfalling hurricanes are manageable 1-day drives (unless your car gets wrecked, like mine did by hurricane Katrina).

After having been in the academic and private sectors of atmospheric sciences, I’m very excited to be part of the broadcast side of meteorology, where I can share my enthusiasm for the weather with the general public.

Most of my spare time is spent playing with my family. Swimming, tennis, and golf were my sports as a youth, so I try to get these in as much as time allows. My involvement with music from early on occasionally leads me to play my drums and guitar as loud as possible. And when there’s severe weather, it’s hard to focus on anything else.